Watching ”Springet”, I have to wonder how much cinema has
changed. Here we have one of Danish cinemas great masters, Henning Carlsen,
who gained international attention and acclaim with “Sult” in 1966, and still
was someone people talked about when he made “Oviri” twenty years later, and
now twenty years later once more, he made “Springet”, and watching these three
films back to back reveals, that Carlsen really hasn’t changed much over the
years. Despite of 17 films over 40 years, Carlsen is using almost the most
basic of techniques, being as traditional as can be, and when he does use
something like a subjective insert, it almost comes off as avant-garde.

The reason I reflect on how much Cinema has changed, is, that while we praise
and study a master like Carlsen, call his pace poetic slow and judge his films
based on his standing in cinema, we dismiss contemporary directors who display
more skill, more control and more thought behind their mise-en-scene than an
old master like Carlsen. Perhaps the question should be, is it us who refuse
to change?

“Springet” tells the story of Tobias, a 42 year musician, who suddenly one day
learns that he has pancreas cancer and only a short time to live. As Swann and
his Mardelaines, the news brings forward a forgotten memory of an experience
Tobias had when he was 13, when a girl made him jump from a balcony using an
umbrella as parachute, and this begins Tobias search to make another jump,
this time into life.

It is a simple story, about ordinary everyday people, told very traditionally.
This is not a larger than life story like “Ikiru”, here the quest is simply to
accept life and just get on with it; Sometimes just living a normal life can
be the hardest thing to do.

Apart from
macro blocking, the transfer is flawless. It is grainy, but so was the
film at the cinema. There are no visible artefacts and colours are
balanced. The film has a very unique look, blending grey memories with
faded every day shots with warm night shots, and this is maintained.

The only issue with this DVD is that the audio commentary by Henning
Carlsen has no subtitles. While the film has both Danish for Hard of
Hearing and English for the international audience, neither of these two
groups can enjoy the great commentary. Carlsen is perhaps getting old, but
he is an old master and it is wonderful to listen to how he talks about
film.